Alex Jones standup is focused on shouting and politics. Bill Hicks did all that but also included good jokes.

That's a different approach.

"Why fake his death instead of just announcing something like, "I want to try doing an Art Bell type show"?" - Sorry, but... my honest answer must be - because he understands what "reputation" means.

If we all know that Alex Jones is a performance artist, we can brush off his acts as what they are - simply performance acts.

While Alex Jones came out of nowhere, copied everything from Bill Cooper, and made himself a name as the crazy conspiracy theorist with a platform that is alive to his day... His image was portrayed as "serious", not "funny"... If it was "funny" image, it wouldn't have worked on us... Idk why am I explaining something so obvious...

Sorry, but my honest answer to your question "Why fake his death instead of just announcing something like, "I want to try doing an Art Bell type show"?" is that - he is not as simple as you. He has a team that knows how bad that would be... I am not aware how you don't realize how stupid is your idea... No offence.

If I was in your place, I would watch the video before commenting about it. Otherwise, you risk your comments to be viewed as stupid since they are already answered in the video... But suit yourself.